Beware the Glass House, Girlfriend

In her otherwise pointless column in today's Commercial Appeal, Wendi Thomas makes glancing references to State Senator John Ford's charge of "white media." She opens a door to some questions I'd like to see answered.

For starters, what's the racial and gender make-up of the editorial staff and the reporter pool at the paper? The city of Memphis is 70-30, black-white; Shelby County is roughly 50-50, not counting our Hispanic population; "Greater Memphis" is probably 60-40, white-black. Does the make-up of the editorial or reporting staff reflect any of these numbers?

It's pretty hard to tell, relying only on the Commercial Appeal. Most reporters and editors never get their pictures in the paper regularly. I can recall a group photo from last year, where the paper was praising its award-winning employees, that was overwhelmingly white and mostly male.

According to their report to ASNE, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the paper's minority representation is fourteen percent. The newspaper business as a whole is overwhelmingly white; minority participation is still less than thirteen percent, which lags minority numbers in the population as a whole.

That's not even counting the corporation, Scripps, which owns the Commercial Appeal. City papers are not stand-alone, independent entities. They are part of a chain at the big-city level. And those corporate managers are overwhelmingly white, as are the majority shareholders. Do not think that there's no influence, even subconsciously, going on.

I haven't yet touched on the influence of new Chief Editor Chris Peck. One source of friction within the Commercial Appeal's staff since his arrival has been the number of former employees he's brought down from the Pacific Northwest, his old domain and a part of the country not noted for its brownness. For that matter, with the Memphis Hispanic population somewhere around 5% these days and growing rapidly, where are the Hispanic reporters and editors the paper so desperately needs?

So, while Ford's comment was entirely self-serving, it was not without merit. Until the Commercial Appeal addresses this concern by publishing its own minority report for readers to see and judge for themselves, they will always operate under a cloud of suspicion.

Wendi can swat it like an annoying gnat, but the ball truly is in her court. Women standing inside glass Death Stars shouldn't be throwing stones at outsiders.

Nor should we overlook the Memphis Flyer, a paper happy to use the city's name, but also deeply skewed in the white direction. I can't ever recall seeing them -- the city's liberal voice!-- address their own glass cabana. Neither can I recall seeing a brown or black face in the photos that often run alongside in-house articles. It is incumbent on them to also address the disparity of their staff's minority hue with the make-up of the city and county.

I'll be waiting, but you'll forgive me if I find other things to do in the meantime. I don't have that much spare time.

2/10/05 10:30PM UPDATEThe Pesky Fly has a strong rebuttal, focusing on Ford over Thomas. Be sure to read the comments, too.

Jamey also has some informed observations.

Another blogger has some great comments, but you have to get "permission" first in order to link. We'll see.

TEN MINUTES LATER Well, it seems that blogger doesn't have any contact information! I guess you have to sneakernet the request in person. Sigh....

So, here's the relevant part of the post:

Ford simply wants a free pass because he's black. I've had this mixed feeling about black elected officials. On one hamd, I'm proud to say I live in a city where black folks are running things. On the other hand, though, I'm ashamed and dismayed at how we are running things.

Clearly, black folks thought things would be different with us in charge. Although it should be, it isn't. That's not to say I'm against black public officials. I'm not. It's just that with anything else black elected officials must hold themselves to a higher standard of accountability. Is it fair? No. But that's the way it is. That's the reality we grew up knowing: as a black person, it's not good enough to be good. That's mediocrity.

I think that the traditional "black" media -- The Tri-State Defender, etc. -- should be up in arms against Ford. He thinks those media outlets, which have had a strong history of exposing injustice, would simply let him (and even Herenton and Wharton) slide because they are brothers. Whatever. Shed light on injustice. And that's what happened to Ford; the light is on him and he's worried about getting too much of a tan.

If Ford wants the media to write about the good things, he needs to invite them when those things happen. Who knows when that might happen.

Lastly, Ford is not being persecuted. He's being held accountable. There is a difference. Don't be fooled.

Please don't name the blogger in comments, OK?